Newsmaker: Reich recalls early years as a lawyer in Pittsburgh

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Newsmaker: Reich recalls early years as a lawyer in Pittsburgh

Monday, February 14, 2000

By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Samuel J. Reich's triumphant return to Pittsburgh came after the even bigger triumph of his beloved Pittsburgh Pirates to end the 1960 season.

Samuel J. Reich (Robert J. Pavuchak, Post-Gazette)

While the Bucs were making dramatic seventh-game history, Reich was in the nation's capitol, working in the Justice Department, where he had been finishing the groundwork for his legal career.

Reich tends to downplay the impact he has made as a lawyer. Now in his 40th year in the business, he has worked on some of the region's more celebrated cases.

In the early 1960s, as the first assistant to then U.S. Attorney Gustave Diamond, Reich specialized in prosecuting organized crime cases in federal court. He won a conviction against mob boss Tony Grosso, whose 10-year prison sentence was overturned. The Supreme Court threw out the statute used to convict Grosso, not the evidence Reich presented.

Reich also prosecuted Lawrence Maloney, a former Pittsburgh deputy police chief charged with gambling.

"We lost that case, but Maloney lost his job," Reich said.

That all came after college. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1960. His graduating class included, "a fella named Anthony Amsterdam, who was one of the smartest guys in the world," and Jesse Choper, who later became dean of the University of California Law School.

Name: Samuel J. Reich
Date of birth: Sept. 8, 1935
Place of birth: Pittsburgh
In the news: Reich was the lead attorney for former Pittsburgh police Officer Jeffrey L. Cooperstein, who was acquitted last week of homicide and aggravated assault charges in the fatal shooting of motorist Deron S. Grimmitt Sr. He and his brother, Curtis Grimmitt, who was injured when the car crashed, had been fleeing another officer.
Quote: "We've got to live in a society where people stop, they don't flee. And if there's a beef, you've got to settle it in court. It's too dangerous the other way."
Education: Graduated in 1953 from Allderdice High School; attended the University of Michigan for a year and a half, then transferred to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated in 1957 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude in 1960.
Family: Widowed in 1989 when his wife, Arlene, died of lung cancer. He later married Diane Marchase Reich. Samuel Reich has a son, Stephen, and daughter, Hillary, from his first marriage. Diane Reich has a son from a previous marriage.

"In any other class, I would've been the man, but not that one," Reich said jokingly.

His accomplishments led him to a position in the honors program at the Justice Department. It was the most boring job he ever had, made worse because he wasn't home to see the Pirates beat the Yankees that year.

"I went to 50 games a year from 1946 on. They were miserable years. And they finally got a contending team and I wasn't there for it," Reich complained.

The job in Washington led him back to Pittsburgh, his hometown, where he started his career as an aggressive federal prosecutor.

In 1966, Reich launched his private practice, making use of the debating skills he honed as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh.

Now he practices in every courtroom on Grant Street, from the circuits, to bankruptcy, to criminal courts.

Reich is coming off his biggest case in years, having successfully defended former Pittsburgh police Officer Jeffrey L. Cooperstein, who had been charged with homicide for the shooting death of a fleeing motorist, Deron S. Grimmitt Sr.

The fact that his next move will be a trip to Florida does not mean vacation, though. He said he will assist his brother, Tom, whom he refers to as "the famous Reich."

Tom Reich is a sports agent and partner of Samuel Reich's son, Stephen. The three expect to work on arbitration agreements for some of the professional baseball clients who now are free agents.

It is the one time that Reich gets to work with two of his great loves, baseball and the law.

"I'm a mediocre lawyer, but I was the world's greatest Little League manager," Reich said.

In his spare time, Reich has begun writing -- not legal briefs and not his memoirs.

His latest project is a baseball book.

"It's about the Hall of Fame and baseball in the 1940s. What else?"